§ 99 and 100. Major Beamishasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) from what ports Russian timber will be shipped this year; and how the freight charges per standard of this timber from each port in question will compare with freight charges for Swedish timber from Stockholm and Finnish timber from Helsinki;
(2) whether the prices recently agreed for Russian soft timber are lower than the prices at which Swedish and Finnish timber of similar qualities was available last November.
Mr. H. WilsonNo firm prices were offered by Swedish or Finnish exporters in November 1949 for 1950 shipment. The price being paid to Russia is below that asked this year by those Swedish exporters from whom we have not yet bought. The first shipload from Russia is expected to arrive approximately a fortnight today with about 700 standards,52W all of which could be used in housing. The timber will be shipped from the Kara Sea, the normal range of White Sea ports, Leningrad and Baltic ports in the Russian-occupied zone of Germany. Timber is not normally shipped either from Stockholm or from Helsinki, but in comparison with current rates of freight from Finnish and Swedish timber loading ports, rates from the White Sea will, as usual, be higher, and those from the Baltic ports in Russian-occupied Germany lower.